Today we’d like to introduce you to Bob Scallan.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
In the spring of 2023, my wife and I decided to relocate from Naples to the Jacksonville area. Before moving, I researched the area and discovered a wealth of local history. Once we settled in Orange Park, I immediately joined the Historical Society of Orange Park and immersed myself in learning local history. Soon after, I realized there were no walking history tours in the area, so I create Orange Park History Tours. My initial intent was that I would have only one tour in Orange Park. When numerous guests requested a tour in Green Cove Springs, that tour was added. And after taking a walking tour of a WWII airplane crash site in the Riverside community, I was offered the opportunity to take over that tour, and it was added to my line up of tours. The joy comes from taking a walk with a group of people and telling the stories of the hidden history, the stories that few people have ever heard. It’s very satisfying when a tour guests says, “I’ve lived here for 30 years, and I didn’t know that.”
Today. I serve as the vice president of the Historical Society of Orange Park and I am former board member of the Clay County Historical Society. Speaking at local civic organizations and the library systems in both Duval and Clay Counties is a way for me to share and preserve our local history. Needless to say, there is some history related activity happening every day of my life.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Marketing the business has been my biggest challenge. At first, I though people didn’t want to take a walk in the heat of summer. I assumed the fall and winter months would see an up tick in business, but that didn’t happen. Maybe people don’t want to go on a walk when it is cold. Then I began to learn more about social media – specifically Instagram. Once I began to post reels, I began to have a small following and an increase in tours. I feel that the presentations at local civic organizations like the Rotary and DAR organizations helps with word of mouth advertising.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
While we have a rich history in Orange Park, we have very few historic buildings left standing. So, when taking my tour, I have to take my guests back in time. I do that by providing them with a photo book containing a number of buildings like the Orange Park Industrial and Normal School, the pier, the Spar Hawk Hotel, and Wiley’s General Store. Painted on the sidewalk are footprints on the approximate spot where the photographer stood in the 1880’s or 90’s. It’s like time travelling to stand on the corner of Kingsley Ave. and River Road and hold up a photo of the pier that extended out over 1000′ into the St. Johns River. We hear the whistles of steamboats, see the frothy foam whipped up by paddle wheels, and smell the dust from the dirt road pushed up by a horse and wagon going by. For my younger guests, who may not be as interested in history as mom and dad, I have a scavenger hunt. The tour begins with the story of the Yerkes Primate Biological Lab and how Hurricane Dora in 1964 ravaged the facility allowing 20 monkeys to escape. Along the tour route, kids take photos of the 20 monkey faces strategically placed from start to finish. For older kids, I have 4 escape room like activities where they have to use the information in my stories to unlock boxes containing keys that will open the cage to one of the monkeys who was accidentally locked inside. The experience of being a teacher for 38 years has provided me with the skill to present information in ways that will appeal to all ages and learning styles.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
In the latter years of my career as a teacher, I took a number of minority students on a fieldtrip to a number of historic buildings – one of which was a one room school house. In front was a sign that read, “Whites Only”. The students asked me what did that mean. I was stunned at the questions. it was a concept they had not yet been taught. I wondered why their parents or grandparents had not spoke of this to these middle school aged kids. Why had the stories of separate drinking fountains, restrooms, movie theaters, schools not been told to them. Why had elders not told them of fire hoses, beatings, being spit on, police dog attacks, unwarranted arrests. These students were missing out on first hand accounts of history. It is up to us to preserve and share our history before the important stories are lost. I would like to urge you to seek out your local historical society, whether it is the Jacksonville History Center, Mandarin Historical Society, the African American Historical Society of Clay County, or the Middleburg Museum – join and contribute, in your small way, to the preservation of your local history.
Pricing:
- Adults – $15
- Children 7 – 17 – $12
- Veterans – $12
- Seniors 65 and up – $12
Contact Info:
- Website: https://orangeparkhistorytours.com/home
- Instagram: @OrangeParkHistoryTours
- Facebook: OrangeParkHistoryTours
